Swimming pools are typically formed from cementitious materials which are applied in a thick liquid state and allowed to cure or harden into a desired final configuration. Pools have both regular and somewhat irregular configurational features, such as curved and straight surfaces which must be formed to the desired shape or profile, and also make smooth transitions in various places from curved to straight or planar surfaces. The cementitious constituent material must usually be hand worked to achieve final desired surface configurations because of periodic variation in surface contours.
This is a challenging task. For one thing, vertical walls must be modified to include among other features, horizontal grooves, periodic recesses, and other shapes. Many of these features extend along a significant length if not the full length of the pool wall. Care must be taken to avoid waviness of horizontal lines and planes as these shapes are formed in the unfinished wall, to maintain constant or unvarying height of grooves and other features along their length, and to maintain depth of grooves as the grooves project into the wall, to name a few of the situations that confront the craftsman charged with finishing a swimming pool.
There exists a need for tools which are particularly suited for accomplishing these goals.